The Critique of the Media

Kevin Durant has had a noticeably tense relationship with the media stemming back a number of years. In a 2015 Grantland article written by Bryan Curtis about the relations between the Thunder and its star players, it is stated that KD thinks that reporters “don’t know shit” and that the media were not “our friends”. It is clear that from these quotes that Durant views the media to be invasive and meddlesome. The points made by Durant have an element of truth to them, the media will report on anything that they deem to be interesting whether it be LeBron’s food order during his 2014 free agency or the advocacy that Reggie Bullock has for the LGBT community. The purpose of these columns and articles is that they humanise the player and make them relatable to normal people who are not multimillionaires, who cannot do what they love for a living.

Durant’s media behaviour would not necessarily be a story given the fact that a lot of players have an interesting relationship with various different media members. Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis have both shown a distant relationship with the media in which they refuse to acknowledge the premise of a question that they dislike. Westbrook memorably did this at the 2017 All-Star game where he talked about fashion instead of his rival Kevin Durant. The reason why Durant’s behaviour has come of interest is his press conference after the Warriors beat the Spurs.

The game itself was a complete washout, San Antonio last comprehensively by over thirty points and the Warriors looked to be in sync as they put up 141 points against a stout defensive unit. The stories would have been that Cousins has been re-integrated seamlessly and the Warriors are beginning to pass teams into oblivion. Instead Durant chose to address the rumours relating to the New York Knicks and most specifically a piece written by Ethan Sherwood Strauss.

Ethan Strauss is a Warriors-lifer. He started covering the team through a sports blog before eventually joining ESPN as a full-time beat writer in 2014. For The Athletic, he wrote this article: https://theathletic.com/802440/2019/02/05/silent-star-on-the-presumed-warriors-exit-of-kevin-durant/

The article acknowledged that KD had sequestered himself from the media over a nine-day period after the rumours about joining the Knicks in free agency intensified and then went on to address the fact that nobody within the Warriors organisation definitely knows what Durant will do come July 1. The opinion piece dealt with a thorny issue for Durant, his reputation in regards to the Laker forward who is called King.

For Durant, his status in regards to LeBron James as the best player in the Association has always been hard to judge. In Oklahoma, the player that Durant has now become was still being defined compared to the finished article that was LeBron James. In the Bay Area, Durant’s greatness is somewhat hidden by the fact he plays with other Hall of Fame talents and has to share the ball. This obviously reduces his individual numbers and the numerical argument that he is the best player in the world.

It must be grating to be considered №2 to LeBron especially when it was proclaimed by media members that Durant would be the best player in five years after his MVP in 2013–14. It is now 2019 and LeBron is still arguably the greatest player in the league. Durant has put the work in to gain the status, he joined the Warriors and beat LeBron in the Finals. In his eyes, he still believes that his ascension has not been acknowledged.

The difference in Durant’s opinion and what he perceives to be the media’s opinion led to a volatile presser from Durant.

Attributed from Tim Kawakami, The Athletic and Anthony Slater, The Athletic

You’ve been around the noise for so long. Is it bothering you more this year? Is it louder this year?

It’s unnecessary. You got a dude, Ethan Strauss, who come in here and give his whole opinion on stuff and make it seem like it’s coming from me. He walk around here, don’t talk to nobody, just walk in here, survey and write something like that.

Now y’all piling on me because I don’t want to talk to y’all about that. I have nothing to do with the Knicks. I don’t know who traded (Kristaps) Porzingis. That got nothing to do with me. I’m trying to play basketball. Y’all come in here every day, ask me about free agency, ask my teammates, my coaches, rile up the fans about it.

Let us play basketball. That’s all I’m saying. Now when I don’t want to talk to y’all, it’s a problem with me. C’mon man. Grow up. Grow up. Yeah, you, grow up. C’mon, bro. I come in here and go to work every day. I don’t cause no problems. I play the right way. Well, I try to play the right way. I try to be the best player I can be every possession. What’s the problem? What am I doing to y’all?

Durant’s direct call-out of Strauss was uncalled for. The opinion piece that concluded with the sentiment that nobody knows what KD will do struck a nerve to the point where Durant felt he had to attack the journalistic integrity of Ethan Strauss. KD’s response definitely crosses a line as it is not a general diatribe towards the media, it is focused on one person whose career could seriously be affected by his actions.

The life of a sports journalist is not easy, they continually have to produce quality, well-written content for not much money and the condemnation of those who disagree with the author’s opinion. It is possible that Strauss’ credibility among the general media and the NBA world as a whole is diminished by this debacle. For any writer who relies on personal relationships to produce newsworthy items, it could be a serious detriment.

The other thing that must be considered in this scenario is that the journalist is essentially powerless, he cannot argue back with the star players because that will ultimately hurt his standing with said players. If he hurts said standing, they may not provide him with quotes that he can use to produce solid written pieces. At the time of the press conference, Ethan Strauss was sat there in the press room listening to KD discredit him as a journalist. It does not feel right that a player can attack a journalist for doing their job.

However, in this type of scenario Durant does have a valid point. The media can be overly invasive and can produce content that is not entirely perfect. The Strauss piece does not pull any punches which in itself is a good thing and a bad thing. The good aspect of the article was that it was entirely truthful, the bad aspect was that KD was offended by the article. Regardless of attitudes towards Durant, it is never nice to see a person getting agitated. Moreover, Durant’s action can somewhat be understood.

He is notoriously thin-skinned. Durant has gone to the point where he has fake Twitter accounts where he has argued with twelve years old about his past in Oklahoma. The majority of Durant’s sensitivity to criticism comes from his personality, he feels that he deserves his due as one of the best in the Association and the other aspect comes from the way Oklahoma City dealt with the media.

During the Durant years, Oklahoma screened all forms of media communications and removed all lines of communications between the beat writers and the players. The purpose of this would be to carefully control a narrative and ensure that would be the only message of the day. There would be no divergence from anybody within the team. Durant very rarely had to do pressers with the media room where plenty of uncomfortable questions about free agency, the infamous ‘Mr Unreliable’ and his relationship with Russell Westbrook could surface. The lack of practice at this form of media has meant that Durant is somewhat ill-suited to the type of tough questioning that a player can receive in a press conference.

To this day, Durant will very rarely speak to the media in that kind of environment, he will only choose to convey information to those who he trusts and in a controlled environment. The Bill Simmons podcast that he regularly does is a good example, there are no truly hard questions about his future as a basketball player. Simmons chooses to focus on lighter material.

There has been all of this media criticism and a veritable blow-up for something that could have been very easily solved. Durant could have simply came out and said that he had not thought about free agency yet and was concerned with winning the Warriors another ring and himself another Finals MVP. This type of response would be very similar to LeBron’s answers about free agency last season. James refused to discuss at any length his plans for free agency instead stating he would focus on the season ahead and deal with his impending free agency after the season has finished. This type of response would have gone a long way to reducing free agency speculation as it refuses to acknowledge the premise of the question.

The other elephant in the room that needs to be addressed is that Durant could have nipped this potential speculation in a bud. In his stint with the Warriors, KD has solely signed 1+1 deals that have been designed to maximise his ability to get the best contract available. This type of deal works as it pressures management into always providing the best resources possible in terms of winning a championship. However, it means that KD hits free agency every single year and there is speculation that he might leave. He can not acknowledge the rumours as all it does is feed the fire. If he signed a 2+1 or even a 3+1, he would not have this issue.

The press conference yesterday was an interesting insight into media dynamics and how some players choose to act towards members of the media who are largely just doing their job. The writer has a responsibility to write and the player is obligated to do press sessions. The future of all reporting about Durant will certainly be interesting to monitor.